Birth Trauma

when the experience of birth is traumatic or associated with trauma in any way defined by you, and no one else.

Over 1/3 of births are experienced as traumatic by either the person giving birth or their partner and a traumatic birth can mean so many things.  If there’s one thing you must know, it’s that how you feel about your birth experience is what matters here.

You are so much more than at least mom and baby are healthy!   

At Growing Well Counseling we care about

  • Whether or not you felt respected in your birth experience

  • If you felt safe in your birth experience

  • If things did or did not go according to plan, or how you hoped they would go

  • Unexpected changes in plans and your reaction to that

  • Urgent or emergent complications, anything that felt scary.

  • Grieving abstract losses about what was not or what was supposed to be

 

Birth trauma can be, but certainly is not limited to

Medical complications | unplanned cesarean | unexpected interventions | excess bleeding | baby needing medical care after delivery | NICU stay | too many providers in your space | poor or no consent and things being done to you | being spoken about rather than to | feelings about how you were treated in your birth | obstetric violence | loss of birth plans | painful tears and/or repairs | postpartum care that did not go well | readmission to the hospital | infection | birth bringing up traumatic memories from the past

… and anything else that felt distressing, scary, traumatic or had moments where you weren’t sure if you [or your partner] or your baby were okay and safe.

 

Struggling with birth trauma can result in depressed and anxious feelings, poor sleep, feeling on edge, intense worry about yourself or the baby, mistrust of medical providers, isolation, intense, often vivid memories and flashbacks [that can be visual, auditory, olfactory (yes, even smell!)]

Perinatal trauma therapy can help reduce flashbacks and decrease the emotion attached to negative memories, help you bond and attach with your baby, and decrease anxious and depressed feelings. With therapy, it can get better. Contact us today.